Well, today was not the ultimate “commute to work” day for me. First, I’m still trying to figure out the easiest way to get to work (I think I may have finally put my finger on it), and secondly, although the clapping scheme is cute, the buses are somewhat frustrating. True, there are buses to every location I work. That being said, most of them run once an hour, and the word “transfer” does not really exist on this island. What could be a 1 hour trip with a direct bus ride ends up being 3 hours with waiting on all ends.
So this is how my day went today (if you care to amuse yourself, you can look up a map of the island): caught bus from St Gilles-les-bains at 7:18 to St Paul station. Waited for half an hour, transferred buses, got to school in La Possession at 9:00 AM. Spent one hour working on classes, preparing, etc. Taught for two hours (more on that later), took a bus to St Denis and bought 3 samoussas for lunch (really healthy I know). Then a 20 minute bus ride to the rectorat to turn in missing papers, waited for 15 minutes for it to open after lunch, handed said paper in. Now I will get paid by November. Sweet. 20 minute bus trip back to city center, hopped on bus to St-Gilles-les-bains, listening to Bonaparte along the way. 😉 That means, 3 hours of bus transport today with 2 hours of waiting time….when I showed up at the grocery store at 4 PM and ran into my new neighbor Roxie, she took one look at me and said, “You are so spaced out. Oh my god!” Then she continuously laughed at me.
But as soon as I got home, there they were, like good housemates, hanging out on the porch on their laptops, surfing the net. I begged to go to the beach, and by sunset we were there, watching surfers, and picking out boyfriends for Carrie and Nathalie, who think it would be cool to meet a surfer dude who has a car. I hope they do meet someone, then we could get around easier, without waiting hours on the bus…until then, I’ve got work to do. Lot’s of work to do.
